How to Season a Cast Iron Skillet?

A skillet can be the rich position in your kitchen. It is the most important and treasured cookware in your kitchen. A seasoned skillet has a stick-resistant coating created by polymerised oils and fats. Seasoning is a process when we apply oil a layer of animal fat or vegetable oil and cook onto cast iron. If your cookware is new wash it with hot water regularly. Iron cast iron need seasoning because there is a fear of it getting rust. Washing a skillet in a dishwasher can remove or damage the seasoning. So, it should not be cleaned like other cookware. Here in this article, we will go through different ways to season a cast iron skillet.

How to Season a Cast Iron Skillet?

1.) Wash to Season a Cast Iron Skillet

The best way to maintain the iron skillet is to use wash every time you use it. Use hot water to wash the skillet. Wipe out the food scraps with a sponge and rinse with hot water. If you want you can use a regular dish soap, this will help you get rid of the sticky food or the smell. Avoid harsh chemicals or detergents this will corrode the iron.

2.) Wipe the Skillet to Season a Cast Iron Skillet

You need to remove the built up food from the skillet’s surface. Make a mixture of salt and vinegar and rub it with a paper towel. Here are simple steps to clean a cast iron skillet. You can also simply use salt and water. It is simple, take a few spoons of salt on the skillet then add water and use a brush to rub. You can also pair the salt with vinegar in the similar way to wipe the skillet to season a cast iron skillet. After rubbing the skillet wash it with hot water to clean it. Preheat the Skillet to season cast it

3.) Preheat the Skillet to Season Cast Iron Skillet

If you want to season a cast iron skillet. For this rub it with oil and bake the oil into the surface of the cast iron. This step will help you to build up a non-stick coating, this coating is called seasoning. Preheat the oven to 360 ° F.

4.) Coat the Skillet with Fat to Season Cast Iron Skillet

You can apply rub fats to the skillet for seasoning. For seasoning, you can use vegetable oil or olive oil. Pour some oil to the pan and rub it using a paper towel. Rub the fat all over the skillet. This will not only season the iron but will also fuse the iron. Seasoning is the most important step of this process. This will make your skillet look bright and dark this will give you a smooth layer to cook. You can also use animal fat for seasoning.

5.) Dry the Skillet to Season Cast Iron Skillet

You can dry a skillet just by placing it on the burner or just wipe it out and placing it in a dry place. For drying, you can place the skillet on the burner. This will help you dry the skillet with and you can get rid of the water on it after you rinse it. If you don’t want to put it on the burner you can just use a dish cloth to wipe out and dry it all over. It is a very important part for seasoning an iron cast skillet.

6.) Bake the Skillet to Season Cast Iron Skillet

After you apply the fat, put the skillet in the oven and bake it for two hours. This will ensure you that the seasoning gets fully formed . After 2 hours remove it and let it cool down. After putting it properly take it out and place it again in the oven. But this time, place the skillet upside down This will allow even heating process and also help to drop the oil the excess oil will drip down and coat the entire pan.

7.) Repeat the Process to Season Cast Iron Skillet

Repeat the entire process spread another coating of fat onto the skillet and rub it all over the skillet. After that bake it for another two hours and let them cool down.

8.) Vinegar Solution to Season a Cast Iron Skillet

If your skillet has got some rust on it use vinegar to eliminate the rust. For this you need to soak the skillet in a vinegar solution get a big pot, it should be large enough that to submerge the entire skillet. Fill the pot with equal amount of vinegar and water. Place the skillet in the pot and make it submerge completely. Soak it for at least 3 hours. The vinegar dissolves the rust after 3 hours take out the skillet and check the rust spots. If they still remain use a scrub brush to scrub them. But be careful do not soak the skillet for more than 4 hours.

9.) Use Flaxseed Oil to Season Cast Iron Skillet

You can also use flaxseed Oil to Season a Cast Iron Skillet. The seasoning is a fat layer of oil on the skillet. You can use various oils like olive oil for seasoning a cast iron skillet flaxseed oil is also good for seasoning an iron skillet.

Pour flaxseed oil into the oil.

Rub the pan all over evenly.

Wipe off the oil.

Place the skillet in a cold oven for a while.

Turn on the oven and set the oven to its highest temperature.

Take the skillet out and let it cool.

Repeat this process for several times for perfect seasoning.

10.) Store it a Dry Place

After wiping the skillet pace it in a dry place make sure that no moisture. This is necessary so that it does not get any kind of moisture on it a small amount of moist can damage the skillet. Also, make sure that the place is well ventilated. Moist and damp condition will gather rust on the skillet.